AppleInsider Staff
Facing increasingly fierce competition in the industry it helped create, GoPro this week announced plans to simplify its product line and innovate on usability, with what CEO Nick Woodman called "the most connected and convenient GoPro we have ever made."
A significant year-over-year decline in revenue has sent GoPro leadership into damage control mode, and the first order of business is to axe the lower-end Hero, Hero+, and Hero+ cameras. The range will now start at $200 with the Hero4 Session, then run upwards to the $400 Hero4 Silver and $500 Hero4 Black.
The long-awaited Hero5 will makes its debut later this year, Woodman revealed during GoPro's earnings call, though it's not clear exactly what "later" means. When it does arrive, it will be the first GoPro to benefit from the company's new strategy of paying closer attention to how its cameras fit into a broader ecosystem of devices.
"In terms of doubling down in hardware we are ensuring that any new and existing hardware products do a better job of connecting to smartphones and the cloud," Woodman said. "Any advancements in software will be matched at the hardware level."
Those software advancements will come in the form of a new "GoPro for Desktop" application that makes it easier for consumers to collate, organize, and edit their GoPro footage. Woodman promised "an entirely new editing experience...[that] will make it easy to create strikingly good edits in a matter of minutes," along with the ability to easily share footage to social media platforms.
The originator of the "action cam" format, GoPro is now just one of a dozen companies selling rugged cameras for sports and outdoor enthusiasts. Everyone from Sony to China's Xiaomi has gotten into the game, driving prices — and consequently, margins — down.
GoPro also announced that its forthcoming Karma drone will be available this summer, and that the company is aiming for a "significantly differentiated" UAV experience.
"I think that we're uniquely positioned to be successful out of the gates with Karma given the strength of GoPro's brand in the drone category," Woodman said. "The drone category — the consumer drone category really took off not because of drones but because of people attaching GoPro's to drones."
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20 Comments
I think everyone who wants one already bought one. and there is not need to go to the next level in recording technology, it good enough where it is. Here is one personal observation, went skiing last week and only saw one group of kids using go-pro on a stick to record what they were doing. In the past I have seen a lot o people with go-pro and similar on the slots recording themselves, I think the fad is starting to wind down. There is nothing new about recording oneself and no one is now interested in see the next kids doing some sort of stupid thing on the slops or bike trails or what every activity they maybe up to. We all seen the video and is not longer interesting, even the stupid Russian driving video are no longer interesting to watch.
Personally, I lost interest in GoPro when my Mountain Biking friends describe the amount of time it had taken them to convert 4 hours of video to feature the highlights of their ride in a short 5 minute video. The concept is pretty cool, but I'd rather spend my time having fun and editing video is fun to some, just not me. So, I feel GoPro's market is first time buyers and a very limited upgrade market.
If Facebook and other social media sites like it prove anything, it's that people are interested in putting up video of everything trivial thing in their lives. And if the amount of selfie sticks proves anything, it's that people do want to photograph or video themselves all the time, even doing things having nothing to do with action.
GoPro created a market and they do have an incredible eco-system. Walk into any remaining decent photography store and it's amazing how much space is taken up with GoPro's own accessories as well as third-party accessories made for the GoPro.
But GoPro definitely has problems. I don't know which model it was, but my brother threw a GoPro into my lap and said, "figure it out". Totally non-intuitive - I couldn't even figure out how to start recording and I'm a long-time photographer and videographer. And if they think the action camera market is crowded, the drone market is even more crowded and has the added disadvantage of being subject to government regulation and being more of a niche. Limiting the line to only the more expensive models could also be a mistake as many of these are purchased by parents for their kids and $500 seems like a lot of money so your kid could take skateboarding videos.
Like almost everything, the value-add is primarily in the software and if GoPro can create great software, that will give them an advantage over the look-a-likes.
What I also think they have to do is to create a model for ordinary photography/video that has clear quality advantages over recording video on a phone. Originally focusing on the action market was a smart way to differentiate themselves, but now they've also got to differentiate themselves from other action cameras. Nikon and a few other companies are about to release 360º action cameras.
Another idea would be for them to create software that permits live action feeds from multiple GoPro cameras at once so that you can essentially create a live show and edit in real time. Maybe the software records both the switched output and the individual camera feeds at the same time so one could re-edit later.
And maybe they should also design cases for smartphones that make them largely indestructible, waterproof and attachable to all matter of mounts, clothing, etc. so one could turn any smartphone into an action camera.
I too had saved up money to buy GoPro during past Christmas, but with wide ranges of product offering, and Costco still pushing Hero 3+ it was just too confusing to which one to buy, I just decided to hold the purchase and maybe I am a lost customer for GoPro last year. But, who knows, maybe I might re-evaluate again with GoPro 5.
GoPro variety of offerings reminded me of Apple Computers and how Steve pared down to very few which made a whole lot of sense for consumer and Apple too. GoPro need to do that also. Secondly, I think GoPro 5 needs to be come down to be small enough and maybe become a body cam so that they can not only target consumer, but also public safety personnels.
Apple used to have the problem with too many models too.
They corrected tht plus numerous other issues they had.
Probably keeping around 3 to 4 tops is the way to go plus a few accessories.